A Book Summary of The Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra Ellen Mortola and Susan Gubar
Summary
TLDRIn 'The Madwoman in the Attic,' Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar delve into 19th-century literature, examining the portrayal of women as either 'angels' or 'monsters.' Using Jane Eyre's Bertha Mason as a symbol, they critique the societal pressures on female authors in patriarchal Victorian England. Despite its focus on a narrow demographic, the book remains a seminal work in feminist literary criticism, challenging readers to consider the hidden feminist messages in classic literature.
Takeaways
- 📚 The book 'The Madwoman in the Attic' by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar is a seminal work in feminist literary criticism, first published in 1979.
- 🔐 The title is inspired by Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre,' where Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester's first wife, symbolizes the 'monstrous other' confined to the attic.
- 👩💻 Gilbert and Gubar explore the portrayal of women in Victorian literature, highlighting the dichotomy of women as either 'angels' or 'monsters'.
- 📈 The book was influential enough to warrant a second, updated edition in 2000, more than two decades after its initial release.
- 🎭 It discusses the 'anxiety of authorship' faced by women writers in patriarchal Victorian society, who often felt isolated in their literary pursuits.
- 📖 Authors like Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, and George Eliot are analyzed for their contributions to feminist messages within traditional narratives.
- 🤝 The study reveals how female authors of the time subtly embedded feminist critiques in their works, often through the portrayal of dual female characters.
- 🔍 The 'angel in the house' and 'madwoman in the attic' tropes are used to illustrate the suppressed rage and power of women under patriarchal oppression.
- 💭 The book acknowledges the gap between how women authors saw themselves and how society perceived them, often leading to a dichotomy in their literary representations.
- 🔄 Despite its criticisms for being too narrow in scope and overly simplistic, 'The Madwoman in the Attic' remains a cornerstone in feminist literary analysis.
- 👀 The summary invites listeners to engage with the book, reflecting its enduring relevance and the authors' call for a broader discussion on women's experiences in literature.
Q & A
What is the title of the book discussed in the script?
-The book discussed in the script is titled 'The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination' by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar.
When was the first edition of 'The Madwoman in the Attic' published?
-The first edition of 'The Madwoman in the Attic' was published in 1979.
What is the significance of the title 'The Madwoman in the Attic'?
-The title 'The Madwoman in the Attic' is derived from Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre', where Bertha Mason, Rochester's first wife, is locked in the attic, symbolizing the 'woman as monster' trope.
What does the 'anxiety of authorship' refer to, as discussed in the book?
-The 'anxiety of authorship' refers to the difficulty women writers faced in establishing themselves in the patriarchal society of Victorian England, feeling isolated and without female peers to discuss writing.
Which female authors are mentioned in the script as being discussed in 'The Madwoman in the Attic'?
-The script mentions Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, and George Eliot as female authors discussed in the book.
How did Victorian female novelists often hide their feminist messages according to the book?
-Victorian female novelists often hid their feminist messages by placing them just beneath the surface of stories that seemed traditional, using characters that were split into two extremes: the 'angel in the house' and the 'madwoman in the attic'.
What criticism has 'The Madwoman in the Attic' received more recently?
-More recent scholars have criticized 'The Madwoman in the Attic' for being too simple, reductionist, and for focusing on a small number of white, often wealthy, female authors, leaving out other types of novels and the experiences of middle and lower-class women.
What is the main argument of Gilbert and Gubar regarding the portrayal of women in Victorian literature?
-Gilbert and Gubar argue that Victorian literature often portrayed women as either 'angels' or 'monsters', reflecting the societal pressures and limitations placed on women during that era.
What is the 'woman as monster' trope as it is discussed in the book?
-The 'woman as monster' trope refers to the portrayal of women in Victorian literature as monstrous or deviant from societal norms, often used to highlight their passion, strangeness, or madness, as exemplified by Bertha Mason in 'Jane Eyre'.
How does the book 'The Madwoman in the Attic' contribute to feminist literary criticism?
-The book 'The Madwoman in the Attic' contributes to feminist literary criticism by analyzing the portrayal of women in Victorian literature and the challenges faced by female authors in a patriarchal society, thus highlighting the hidden feminist messages in their works.
Outlines
📚 'The Madwoman in the Attic': A Feminist Critique of Victorian Literature
This video introduces 'The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination' by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, a seminal work in feminist literary criticism since its first publication in 1979. The book's title is inspired by Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre,' where the 'madwoman' symbolizes the suppressed and monstrous aspects of women in Victorian society. Gilbert and Gubar explore how Victorian female authors, such as Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Emily Brontë, and George Eliot, navigated the patriarchal constraints of their time. They faced the 'anxiety of authorship,' often feeling isolated as women writers. Their works, while appearing traditional, subtly contained feminist messages and depicted women in dualistic roles as either 'angels in the house' or 'madwomen in the attic.' These roles reflect the dichotomy of societal expectations and internalized anger towards patriarchal oppression. Despite its importance, the book has been criticized for its narrow focus on a select group of white, often affluent, female authors and for being reductionist in its analysis. The video concludes by inviting viewers to engage with the book and subscribe for more summaries.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Feminist literary criticism
💡Anxiety of authorship
💡Madwoman in the attic
💡Angel in the house
💡Victorian literature
💡Patriarchal society
💡Subversive feminist message
💡Jane Eyre
💡Bertha Mason
💡Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar
💡Reductionist
Highlights
The book 'The Madwoman in the Attic' by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar is a landmark work of feminist literary criticism.
The book's title is inspired by Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre', specifically the character of Bertha Mason.
Bertha Mason represents the 'woman as monster' trope, illustrating Victorian views of women as either angels or monsters.
Gilbert and Gubar discuss the challenges female authors faced in the patriarchal society of Victorian England.
The concept of 'anxiety of authorship' is introduced, describing the isolation female writers felt.
The authors argue that female writers often hid subversive feminist messages within traditional narratives.
Characters in Victorian literature are often split into the 'angel in the house' and the 'madwoman in the attic'.
The 'madwoman' character represents a woman's hidden anger, rage, and power.
Female authors often paired two female characters to show the range of women's emotions.
The 'evil woman' character reflects the author's real anger at patriarchal oppression.
Female characters written by women show the gap between how women see themselves and how they are seen by others.
The book reflects the sad social reality of Victorian women's lives, though not always explicitly.
Critics argue that Gilbert and Gubar's analysis is too simple and reductionist.
The book has been criticized for focusing on a small number of white, often wealthy, female authors.
The book does not adequately address the experiences of middle and lower-class women.
Despite criticisms, 'The Madwoman in the Attic' remains influential in feminist literary criticism.
Transcripts
hi and welcome back to our channel
summaries of a bookworm
your number one place for all who need
or like to listen to book summaries
let's start with the book summary of
today sandra gilbert and susan goobar
wrote the madwoman in the attic the
woman writer and the 19th century
literary imagination
it came out for the first time in 1979
it was praised right away and has since
become a landmark work of feminist
literary criticism
in fact it has become so important that
a second updated edition came out in
2000 more than 20 years after the first
one
the title of the madwoman in the attic
comes from jane eyre a famous book from
the early 1800s
bertha mason rochester's first wife has
gone crazy and is locked up in the attic
of their home bertha mason rochester was
a rich creole woman from jamaica
because of this she is a kind of
monstrous other who stands in contrast
to the good and traditionally english
main character jane
bertha is passionate strange and crazy
all of which the author and the
characters in the book use to make fun
of her in gilbert and gubar's study of
victorian female novelists and how women
were portrayed in victorian literature
bertha is used as an example of the
woman as monster trope
their analysis of her character helps
them figure out how victorians thought
of women as either angels or monsters
in the book authors like jane austen
mary shelley emily braunt charlotte
bronte and george eliot are all talked
about
gilbert and gubar say that women found
it hard to establish themselves as
authors in the patriarchal society of
victorian england they felt what gilbert
and goobar called the anxiety of
authorship which means that they didn't
have other female writers to talk to
about writing many of the women who
wrote during this time felt like they
were the only ones who wanted to be
writers
because of this their work often stays
in traditional settings to get a lot of
people to like it but just below the
surface of these stories that seem
normal is a subversive feminist message
that the women who wrote them tried to
hide because they didn't want to limit
their work
this hidden meaning often showed up in
their descriptions of women who were
often split into two extremes the angel
in the house who was traditionally good
meaning submissive and good and the
madwoman in the attic who was the image
of a woman's hidden anger rage and power
but neither of these two symbols of
femininity as a whole woman in many
books written by women two female
characters are paired together each
character shows half of the range of
emotions with the evil woman often
showing the author's real anger at
patriarchal oppression
female characters written by female
authors show the gap between how women
see themselves and how other women see
them
their real selves were criticized but
their masks of performance were praised
this sad social reality is reflected in
their writing though not always in a way
that shows exactly how hard life was for
victorian women in fact gilbert and
goobar's work lets many women's
real-life experiences slip through the
cracks
the authors and works they looked at are
all in the same social niche so their
findings are only relevant to this small
group
in fact more recent scholars think that
the books analysis is too simple and
even a bit reductionist
it has been criticized for focusing on a
small number of white often wealthy
female authors leaving out whole types
of novels not talking about modern
writers like emmy braden or analyticia
barbald and not talking about the
experiences of middle class and lower
class women in a fair way the madwoman
in the attic the woman writer and the
19th century literary imagination is
still a landmark in feminist literary
criticism even though it has been
criticized
thank you for listening to our book
summary i hope we sparked your interest
in the book
please let us know in the comments below
and give this video a thumbs up
do you want to listen to more book
summaries subscribe to us and you will
get a notification every time we publish
a new summary
bye bye and see you next time
Ver Más Videos Relacionados
Feminist Criticism - One Approach to Literature
What Is Feminist Criticism?
Literary Criticism vs. Literary Theory Key Difference | Literary Criticism | Literary Theory
Realismo Brasil [Prof. Noslen]
Rayuela por Julio Cortázar | Resúmenes de Libros
EAPP in TAGLISH Ep.6 - Critical Approaches in Writing a Critique
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)